Brett Cecil appeared in the April 23rd version of the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell. I liked his strikeout stuff and thought he was up to the task. He secretly confided in me it was a lot of pressure on him. He never had a mustachioed man ask anything of him, at least not one that wasn’t wearing a raincoat and no pants. His WHIP sits at 0.77 through 20 2/3 innings. Thank you, can I bring you your slippers? He has 21 Ks. Yup, more than a strikeout per inning. Last night, he had a perfect game in the 7th inning and ended up going 8 innings, 1 ER and 10 Ks. He’s getting a bit lucky, but he’s worth owning in all twelve team leagues, while ten teamers should hover their grabby hands just over his name. Honey, could you bring me a Dr. Pepper? My grabby hands are busy, woman! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Ryan Madson – Will have toe surgery after kicking a metal chair. The metal chair is day-to-day.

Joe Blanton – 6 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 11 baserunners, 4 Ks. That looks like about what you’ll get from Blanton every time out. Give or take 1 earned run, according to 100 simulations run by a 100 monkeys dressed as William Shakespeare.

David Freese – 2-for-5, 3 RBIs. No one’s been hotter in the last week. Now has 3 homers in the last seven games and batting near .500.

Jaime Garcia – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks. If you’re bored at your job, Dave Duncan can turn you into a major league pitcher and help you win a Cy Young.

Cesar Valdez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks vs. the Suck Asstros. Valdez is fine in NL-Only leagues because he should keep the ball down, but looks like he’ll be more valuable to the Diamondbacks than he will to your mixed league fantasy team.

Mike Pelfrey – Had an MRI for shoulder tightness, but he was cleared to start Friday. The MRI showed “pitched poor on Saturday vs. a good team” but “hopeful he’ll be better against” a “poor Giants offense.” Yes, MRI results read like a Zagat review.

Ubaldo Jimenez – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 13 Ks. If the Rockies schedule holds, Ubaldo should be the starter on July 13th. Though he’ll probably only go for 2 innings.

Javier Vazquez – First bit of good news for Vazquez owners this year is the Yankees are skipping his turn in the rotation. There’s some taxi drivers rubbing their hands together hoping Javy gets into their cab.

Jorge Posada – Left the game with tightness in his right calf. His left calf sends its best. Posada’ll miss a few days.

Randy Winn – 1-for-3 with a 3-run homer. I was looking up his numbers yesterday making sure there was nothing to see here and there isn’t, but something did stand out to me. His age. How is he 35 years old? C’mon, doode looks like he’s 62. He was 35 when he starred opposite Billy Crystal in Running Scared.

Nick Swisher – 3-for-3, appeared in Friday’s Buy/Sell and is still hitting over .400 in the last seven days. ROTIOAOWAYSETWOASPAYOWTWH!

Mariano Rivera – Rivera joins Posada as the sore half of the core four. Rivera felt stiffness in side after Friday’s game. The Yankees withheld telling the media until yesterday. Don’t these people know The Star Ledger’s got papers to sell! It makes me a tad suspicious that the Yankees didn’t say anything about Rivera until yesterday. (BTW, Tad Suspicious is a character I adopt while playing Clue.) I’d absolutely grab Joba if he’s out there.

Adrian Beltre – 2-for-5 as he hit his first homer of the season. That puts him just off his pace from last year when he hit 8 homers.

Austin Jackson – 3-for-5 as he fell a homer short of the cycle. He’s now hitting .377. Okay, all I’m saying is his BABIP is .527, which means he could pop a bunt up to the catcher and it would fall for a hit.

@Terrence Mann: Chacin got a mention in Doc’s sparkling round-up yesterday. Nice work Doc!
Grey – Welcome back. I trust you had them rolling in the aisles. Did you wear a stetson and a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate?

14 team H to H, 6×6……Does Holliday and Kemp for Adrian and The King have to be accepted? Move Albert to first. When Granderson comes off the DL, OF becomes Kemp, Grandy, McCutchen with Holliday serving as one of the Utility guys (league has 2 UTLs). Staff obviously takes a hit, but still would have Garza and Weaver at the top with some match up guys like Cecil, Zito, Correia, etc to fill in the holes.

@Grey I’m in bad shape as far as Saves go in one of my leagues. Thanks to injuries and total suckitude, I’m down to 1 closer (Soriano). I was offered Aardsma for Oswalt. My rotation is Verlander, Lester, Nolasco, Liriano, Oswalt, and Slowey. Should I pull the trigger or just wait it out until some fresh meat shows up in the FA pool? I’m throwing Meek and Zumaya in my RP corps right now.

Hi Grey, and welcome back. I have three questions regarding injury replacements (opinions from other fellow managers very welcome as well).

First, in a 20-team roto league where I’m biding time for Rollins to return, I’ve been using Brignac. But he doesn’t play against lefties (at least not very well) and there are a bunch of lefties coming up. I’m wondering if I should stick with him, or if the increases in PT for former subs/utility men in the wake of injuries in Atlanta, San Diego and LA could make Omar Infante, Hairston Jr., or Jamey Carroll a better medium-term choice.

Second, I had been using Pudge as my fill-in for Montero in a 16-team roto league, but I managed to trade him (Pudge and Jose Guillen for Ian Stewart!) and now I need a new guy to drop in the catcher slot. Jaso is available, but it looks like pitchers may be starting to figure him out a little. Varitek seems to be playing well, though. John Buck and Ryan Hanigan are also hitting the ball well and are still on waivers. Fox is catcher-eligible, but still not playing great. Who do you suggest grabbing?

Which do you like better:
a) pence/Haren for Halladay
b) Bay/Haren for Halladay
c) they’re both too much for halladay

Its a 12 team H2H, only 32 innings needed per week. My team is frustrating the crap outta me. Am I just panicing here? I’m basically benching pence, bay or an OF each day too that I want to play. So if i lose one i can just slot hammy in or someone since i just acquired him for two closers. I just want to deal Haren before it gets any closer to the 2nd half. Just sick of watching some of these smucks and trying to shake it up.

@Tony: just fyi, check haren’s peripherals in between the first and 2nd half. it appears as though it’s bad luck more than anything. his LD rates remain pretty steady, his HR rates stay pretty similar (i think august or something it’s way high, but july and sept it’s essentially the same), and his K and BB rates are similar (actually improve i think), but his babip skyrockets late in the last few seasons for reasons unknown. in other words, i wouldn’t necessarily sell haren short because of the bad second halves since a lot of it appears based on luck. i think rotoauthority has a post on it early in the season or maybe before the season.

@Jordan73: matusz is probably the best talent of the 3 younger guys. neither he nor cecil or romero is gonna be playing for a big winner this year. you might as well stick with matusz. baker has more track record and just had a good outing last night and playes for a winner and isn’t in the AL east.

so in short no.

cecil is available in all my leagues too, but i really don’t have room to pick him up unless i drop vazquez in one league. tempting. but if vazquez fixes mechanical flaws maybe he can be useful for matchups from here on out. ultimately i’d say you are looking at close to 9K/9IP, an era around 4.00, a whip around 1.30, and maybe 10 Ws for cecil.

the other two who haven’t been and won’t be starting for me any time soon: scherzer, dice-k

With the innings cap, innings will be tight. I’m very solid/dominating pitching categories, but would like one more guy I can count on as a 6th starter. I’d trade these two if they had ANY value at this point.

How long do I sit on these two guys?
Currently have my eye on Cecil and Chacin.

Mike Stanton. Can anyone explain to me why this guy is still in AA? He now has a .360 average, 13 HRs, 26 Rs, 29 RBIs, a 25/25 K/BB ratio and an absurd 1.388 OPS in 86 ABs. I guess the answer has to be money (they are probably trying to wait until after the Super 2 deadline), but he would be the best OF on the Marlins right now. Think Ryan Braun’s rookie year with a little less speed and a little lower batting average.

Pitcher questions: Do you think Chacin worth a roster spot in a 20-team league? I picked him up and played him @ SF and was obviously very pleased with the result. But then I dropped him for someone else because I figured I probably wouldn’t play him @ Los Angeles in his next start.

Also, now that he’s pitching better I’m thinking of trading Hamel for a pitcher of around the same level but more upside and with a less dangerous home park. Can you throw out 2 or 3 names I could shoot for?

Here’s the deal. I am in a 12 team H2H 5×5 league. I most often win all 5 pitching categories in my matchups due to my staff of Lester, Nolasco, Kershaw, Romero, Slowey, Correia, Fister, Bell, Marmol, Rauch, and Simon.

However I don’t do to well in the 5 batting categories with a team of:

No one on my team trades. Ever. No interest in trading. It’s like they participated in the draft and leave their teams alone only to log on when it’s waiver wire day.

So I’m trying to assemble the best team I can with waiver picks to compete in batting categories so that I can win my matchups instead of breaking even. Unfortunately in our 12-team league where the draft was set to 300, there isn’t much available on the wire. The best players are usually ones who are on a hot streak.

@TheEvilEmpire: what are the chances you are just offering deals very favorable to you? i have a guy in my main league shopping hughes around like he’s the 2nd coming of roy halladay and sizemore around like it’s 2008 bitching that no one will deal with him, when really he’s overvaluing his own guys.

Cecil sure looked dominant last night. He cut his finger during spring training, which forced him to not throw his curve for a while, so he worked on his change, which has improved drastically. Hopefully he keeps this up. Even though it was Cleveland last night, he’s already had good outings vs. Bos & TB.

@ThePoonTycoon: roto to me is different than H2H in this situation, of course you ride haren out in roto, he’s still getting you OVER 200 K’s, in H2H i’m not particularly thrilled with a second half ERA in a H2H league where i ONLY need 32 innings… if i can turn haren into Halladay and losing bay or pence really isn’t hurting my O, i think ive gotta do it?

@TheEvilEmpire: another option is that you are targeting “buy low” guys and their owners are savvy enough to know prince fielder is gonna get his, and selling him now isn’t a winning move. i know i keep getting inquiries into fielder and low ball offers that i immediately shoot down. 1 month of mediocre play doesn’t make him any less of a late 1st round pick/early 2nd round pick.

@TheEvilEmpire: not saying you are any of these. it’s just the guys in my leagues that bitch about no trading are usually the guys offering up the worst deals in the league and trying to get a deal done by saying something like “hughes could give you 90% of halladay’s numbers”.

@Baron Von Vulturewins: probably similar production. mcgehee has a better lineup spot, though freese could move up. i’d say they are worth targeting if you can get them cheap. maybe someone drafted one of them late in a draft or picked them up off waivers but have a stud 3B and don’t really need them. as a mcgehee owner without a stud 3B, i would have to be blown away to trade him simply because of the dearth of 3Bs on the wire.

@ThePoonTycoon: I currently have Ian Stewart at 3B and Kelly Johnson at 2B — both good for now but not helping me sleep at night long-term. I’ve batted my eyelashes at the Longoria/Zimmerman owners in my league, but with no luck. So I’m wondering if I should add one of those guys as insurance — likely Freese, since he fits better with my team (high AVG).

The guy with Freese has Miggy and Mini Donkey at the corners already, with Glass Slipper Jones on the bench, so Freese could be had from him, I’m guessing.

Pick up Thames or Kearns while Granderson is out? It’s also Rotiseree so I could go another rout and pick up Vargas for the month long stretch and try and rack up extra wins and K’s. That would however force me to start Luke Scott every day and have one less player for short schedule days.

anyone else running smoak in their lineup now? due to injuries, i’m starting him at util spots in 2 weekly lineup leagues. i think he’s about to really take off, and didn’t wanna drop him now that he’s putting good wood on the ball.

@ThePoonTycoon: I personally think he’s about ready to explode. He’s already shown he’s incredibly patient and his two HRs have been bombs. I think it’s just a matter of time until he becomes someone who should be slotted in your 1B spot. Just my $0.02.

@Wilsonian: yeah, more BBs than Ks is especially promising. i’m hoping he really blows up and i can keep him in my keeper league for next year and start shopping around teixeira in the offseason for next year.

i’m loving Ubaldo, but it sucks for him that the Rockies are apparently consulting Dusty Baker on how to handle him. he’s gone over 120 pitches three times already. don’t these idiots ever learn? i’d hate to see this kid’s career derailed by an abusive manager….plus if he got hurt i’d be screwed in two leagues!

@Kazmere: tougher. i would strongly consider dropping frank^2. seems like feliz has reclaimed a strong hold on the closer’s role (3 straight perfect appearance, 3 saves), but then again, i’m not a closer whore like a lot of people, and fuentes isn’t the safest closer in the world either.

but if someone offered you pence for frank^2 you’d take it right? i mean, pence is gonna get his numbers, but he is streaky. if it comes down to it you can move pence or one of your other OFs for a much better/safer closer than frank^2.

@Vic Vinegar: ubaldo has thrown 198 innings and 218 innings the past 2 years, so it’s not like he hasn’t been building to this. maybe he’s got an arm like halladay or cc where throwing high pitch counts doesn’t haunt him? his velocity and movement is still there late in games, so that’s a pretty great sign.

Jeebus bless you, Grey. I’m in a league where SPs are disproportionately highly valued for some reason (more psychological than anything, IMO), and we drafted Scherzer based on last year’s peripherals. Then because of your warnings re: Verducci and league switch, combined with this year’s declining peripherals, I decided to try and trade Scherzer a week ago when his ERA was still in the 2s. And, I managed to swap him for Shane Victorino. So I guess thanks are due, and the experience gave me a phrase that I’d like to humbly suggest as a Razzball glossary item…

Schervivor’s guilt – the wow-I-almost-feel-bad-now sensation that comes when you manage to sell high on a player (rare) *immediately* before they crap the bed (rarer), the full expectation of which is why you were unloading them in the first place (priceless!). Usage: “I traded away Max Scherzer for Shane Victorino last week, right before Scherzer gave up 16ER with 4/4 K/BB in 8 IP over two starts against the Twins. Now every time I see Victorino in my lineup I’m feeling Schervivor’s guilt.”

@ThePoonTycoon: Why do you think Robot is so low, Grey’s pretty high on him at least compared to Ike. The reason I ask, is unless this is a keeper league, I would have thought Robot would at least be considered the higher calibre player who is streaky, whereas, Smoak and Ike are unproven, and Freese is just today’s hot FA player

@MattW: at a CI spot i like some upside. jones isn’t awful, but you are getting a light-weight version of dunn with him (~.250 avg, solid BBs, 30 HR). in that lineup he’s not gonna have tons of RBI opportunities.

i explained what i think about smoak above, and i would rank him #1 going forward regardless of needs. after that it gets cloudier. i am betting on some potential with davis. freese becomes more valuable if you need avg and are already shaky at 3B, so he can provide you some insurance. if you need the power, you can go with robot (i didn’t realize his BB was so high until i just looked up his stats). i am less high on davis than i am smoak, plus factor in arlington v. metco, and i could see someone going freese or robot over davis)

@Mitch: just bc you said that romero will get lit up by my tribe, thanks…..

@James: wow the ubaldo hype is outta control, espn was blasting all this morning how he’s on Halladays level now…. hmmm lets see him do it for a full year, i believe inthe stuff, but you dont have one good half last year and 6 good starts and now you’ve become an elite pitcher like halladay who has done it for years.

Personally i’d probably take CC for Ubaldo.

@GREY: you prefer bay to pence then? i own 3 mets (bay/wright/reyes) and i was kinda thinkin of splitting that triumvirate up, but then again pence is on the Astros, you gotta figure the mets manager will eventually figure out that he should be batting his BEST 3 players higher in the line up?

I just picked up Cecil last night, so I’d say that qualifies me to answer anybody’s questions about him:

@Chris J: Max is not looking right at all so far, but he’s worth holding on to if you have anybody else you can drop. If not, go ahead and take a flyer on Cecil.

@Jordan73: I’d hold on Matusz and Baker — Baker’s had some bad luck on balls in play, so he should do better than he has so far.

@dingers: I’d say those rules apply to all non-ace AL pitchers, though he has pitched well against both Boston (6IP, 1ER, 6 baserunners) and Tampa Bay (6.2IP, 4ER, 7 baserunners, 8K) so far. If he does so again, I’d give him a longer leash.

@Wilsonian: If I were you, I’d keep LeBlanc and Bard and drop Lowe for Cecil, unless you need the extra SP to reach a weekly IP limit or something. Even then, the Sox are using Bard so much he might give you more innings than Lowe.

Then again, I may be unreasonably high on LeBlanc because I snagged him quite late in two very deep drafts. Still, the shoulder is kind of important for a pitcher. Tall Chris Young may be out for quite some time before that shoulder gets right.

10 team mixed roto, 9 keepers from season to season, 6 player minor league reserve.
Trade just posted where team currently in third place gives Beckham, Maybin and Carlos Carrasco to team in last place for Howard and Broxton. Is this insane? Not that I’ve ever done it, but isn’t this what a veto is for?

@Grey – Over the weekend I dropped Mike Gonzalez for Andruw Jones as my first fill in for Curtis Granderson… I know you don’t know who’s available in my league… but was I smart to have picked up Andruw as a plug for now?

Should I deal away Morneau and Cecil to acquire Robot Jones and CC?
I dont really need the pitching (I already own Baker, Hamels, Hughes, Price, Slowey, Weaver, Scherzer), but this offer is very tempting.

Enjoying the heck out of Mr. Freese’s run and taking advantage of the ROTIOAOWAYSETWOASPAYOWTWH principle with Swisher; but as they inevitably cool off, would you drop either for Smoak or Robot? And how would a Stanton call-up affect any of these dudes on our rosters? Thanks; & best regards to Rudy please.

@Wilsonian: cecil over leblanc easily, for my money. cecil’s both a better pitcher and probably has a better hold on his rotation spot. the only thing giving pause is AL east vs. petco, but i think cecil’s beating him by enough that i’d overlook that stuff.

leblanc’s a classic crafty lefty, been getting good results – i don’t hate him – but just doesn’t have any velocity at all & i think it’ll catch up with him and make him perhaps not awful but probably mediocre fantasywise. cecil has him on K upside, backing offense / win potential, pretty much everything except the park and league.

@Tony: HA! That’s kind of what I thought, before I could get any great comments on what I should do, someone just picked him up 25 minutes ago, as I had him queued to pick up for either LeBlanc or Lowe.

Pretty pissed that I missed that. Shoulda just pulled the trigger. I’m actually ashamed of myself.

@Grey – Since you mentioned now is the time to buy Hamels. Would trading Panda away to get Hamels be a good move? I have Miggy and Mini Donkey in Panda’s natural position. The utility position is filled by Pedroia or Kelly Johnson.

I figure that would end my pitching search as I currently have Halladay, Ubaldo, Hanson, Wandy, and Buchholz.

@Dingo: Oh he’s officially on the chopping block when the next big thing comes around – hopefully the Razz-world will keep me updated before my leagues no what hit them. Lowe’s already on the pine for this week’s matchup at Philly. Luckily, I have by far the best starting pitching in that league (assuming Lester gets back to form and Haren gets back to his previous first half stats).

Is there a glossary term for adding a slap hitter to your razzball team and said hitter immediately goes yard? I added McCutchen last week and he hit 2 bombs his first day on my team (realize he’s not really a slap hitter, but still). This week, I added Podsednik and his first day on my team he goes yard.

All kinds of sucking players have been on our waiver wire. Blanks, Aramis Ramirez, Napoli. I’m scared to death to touch any of them, though.

@Wilsonian: wow, I have a terrible understanding of the English language. Shoulda said “know” not “no”. First I miss out on the Cecil express and then I type like I’m sporting a business in the front, party in the back hairstyle. Rough day…

@tourinct: i would want a full explanation from the last place team posted to the league message board before the veto deadline. if he didn’t provide it or it wasn’t at least somewhat satisfactory, then the other 8 owners all veto. obviously league dynamic plays a role (how well do you know the other owners, league history, etc.), as well as keeper structure.

@tourinct: another thing you could do is at least post a message on the message board and say that if someone is deciding to salary dump, at least do themselves and the rest of the league the courtesy of putting guys on the block and sending out a message saying the best offer wins. he would have benefited from having a couple of owners bidding for howard, and it wouldn’t have given the 3rd place team howard for 30 cents on the dollar.

What is up with Alcides Escobar throwing up a goose egg for steals. Is it Macha or just the fact that he has not been getting on base that much? I need the steals badly, but I am tempted to dump him for Hardy or Tejada…neither are very appealing. And someone just dumped Yunel in my league…although he is likely headed to the DL.

@Grey: H2H league, Posada is my catcher, worried this calf injury is directly related to getting hit by the baseball the other day and its going to be a longer term issue. Should I consider Buck or Jaso? I wouldn’t want to dump Posada and i hate the idea of carrying 2 catchers, but punting a position for the rest of this week could hurt. Furcal will be DL’d soon so that would open up a spot at least.

Been trying to offer SP for OF and have had no takers yet. people are holding on tight, maybe I need to go after a more mediocre target that is still an upgrade over Willingham or Rajai or Kearns (Grandy Dld and generally weak OF, Bay is my 4th)

@and1mcgee: I know how you feel. I have Beckham too. I hate having good players who are stinking because you can’t drop them. Same thing with Quentin, Blanks, Alcides, and somewhat with Scherzer. I’d almost rather have lesser players who I can drop at any time.

Not a big Ichiro fan myself, but with my current team make-up, I have lots of flat-footed plodders (MMD, Bruce, Krispie) who threaten lines like .260/30/90, i.e. vintage Dunn. What I need is a) avg; b) steals; and c) OBP, i.e. Ichiro. I’ve got Borbon rotting on my bench, but in the meantime I’m tied for dead last in SBs.

Not super-psyched by this unsexy trade but am thinking it would address a few needs. Thoughts?

My RP situation is a mess. I have no good closers and went a little crazy picking up prospective ones, and need to drop one or just have RPs burning a hole in my bench. Who (can be multiple) would you cut out of Juan Giutierrez, Evan Meek, Joba Chamberlain, LaTroy Hawkins, and Fernando Rodney.

@ThePoonTycoon: For the rest of this year and for years to come (this is a keeper league), how would you compare Aroid to Cano? It seems that 3rd base is the weaker position for the time being so that is a plus in Aroids favor, however Cano could be really hitting his break out and since he is hitting #5 in that lineup and is LH their numbers may be really close.

@Slumpbustin: well, i think aroid has acouple of high end years left in him. i like cano alot too though. i would maybe just see if you could get a little better SP than hamels, or maybe toss in a RP or something on the back end. i’m not how keepers are structured for your league so that could make a substantial difference in how they are valued too. like is cano cheaper? contract limits? etc.

@ThePoonTycoon: Keepers in our league work pretty straight forward, you can keep up to 8 and you have to keep 6. No limits to how long you can keep them. If you keep 6 guys you get 2 supplemental draft picks, all teams start the regular draft with 8 players. So no keeper comes cheaper.

I think I agree with you that I am selling Arod cheap right now, but maybe as soon as next year, Cano is equaling that output. I actually think I am buying Hamels cheap as well, but I could be wrong about him. It is going on 14 or 15 months of mediocre numbers for C-Ham. Santana seems like he is a spot start against anyone not in the AL West, and Byrd is hot right now, but I expect him to cool soon.

I need a good pitcher and I’m targeting someone like Verlander or Weaver. I have Kinsler, Phillips, and Kelly Johnson for my 2B/MI slots so I’m thinking of sending Kelly Johnson and someone else for Verlander. I have Headley, Span, Krispie… also. Ideas? I have too many bench hitters.

This is a 10 team 7 keeper with a 1300 IP limit. We have 5 SP spots and 3 RP spots active. I have Simon in an SP spot and would intend on throwing Joba in an SP spot too as he’s eligible. My RP’s would then consist of Dotel, Marmol, Morales, Simon, & Joba with Wood on the DL. I’m 2nd to last in saves with the leader having twice as many as me. I think I could easily make up some ground with 5 sucky RP’s as opposed to 3. Just dont want to jump ship on Vazquez too soon.

Strasburg promoted to 3A; for all of you in NL AAA Leagues.
Any excitement purcolating over Morrow? Last three starts (KC, Tampa, Oak) terrific & @ Clev. next. Higher upside than Cecil, Fister and all the other arms du jour?

Need to see some hate sent Pence’s way. The dude apparently used up all of his offense in the spring. All he does is hit groundballs. 3 lousy walks after one month is a pretty bad sign too. I think he was pressing with Berkman out, but even now he’s not driving the ball at all.

Off topic… I know. I am a hater. How can such a talented guy play so terribly for more than a month?

Couple of questions…I have McGehee at 3rd right now (just as he cools off), Cantu at Utility (who even though he has cooled is still wildly productive), Heyward, Torii Hunter (who was one that the auction system froze on and gave me along with a couple others..before being able to make a run at better talent) and Matt Holliday in the OF (again, not productive)…

Johnny Damon is an extra on the bench who I have been slotting in as of late because of his BA, but because of age and now his calf injury am curious about what to do with him. Chone Figgins is another guy the auction applet froze and stuck me with, and aside from his almost sole ability to steal bases, I am not really locked on keeping him. Bengie Molina is a backup to V-Mart that I got stuck with, though he has been somewhat consistent.

Even though with McGehee and Cantu leaving a logjam at the position, is it worth picking up Freese and dropping Figgins to let him develop (he is available on the FA market in my league)? Otherwise, the FA market is pretty well picked and I do not see any of the others in my league wanting to part with anyone unless I gave up Cano (which I will not do). Last week was pretty good, but I need some production and people like Figgins is just riding the pine. Bengie Molina is someone I would drop easily (if V-Mart would start hitting more) and Damon is a question mark with some good performance as of late. What does anyone suggest? I’m getting shelled pretty good right now.

As for pitchers: I have Halladay, J. Sanchez, D. Price, J. De La Rosa (on DL), Andy Pettitte (who I am thinking about dropping for C. Lewis..good idea? Is he for real this time?) and Kershaw (what the hell is wrong with him?). Valverde and Marmol are closing. Again, the other aces have mostly been picked. Is picking up C. Lewis from TEX for Pettitte a good move or is this a flash in the pan, even with Andy injured right now? And will Kershaw get it back together and stop with pitching 47 ERA games?